Broken Rule
by Jim Carnival
Summary: Delete knew there had to be a reason for his feelings toward that one bespectacled Earth brat. ჯ Implied Delete/Inez. Drabble.


**Note:** This was something I churned out while doing prompt challenges with my best friend Quingo. I'm not in the _Cyberchase_ fandom, but I wanted to write something for her to cheer her up, since I haven't in a while!

* * *

Delete knew his feelings were nothing to be proud of.

He had never liked those fluttery hiccups of electricity through his circuits. He had never particularly found the strange heat speeding up his gears to be anything enjoyable. The feelings were there, but every moment experiencing them did nothing but weigh him down with both worry and a strange, jittery fear of what was happening to him.

It was that Earth brat's fault, after all. That meant it couldn't be anything good.

Delete had begun noticing the odd jolts through his wires a long time ago. Admittedly, his system wasn't the most advanced. He blamed his poor processor for the flares of heat and fast whirring of gears. But the feelings only occurred when he found himself near the pack of Motherboard's Earthlings—in particular, the one that wore glasses.

Had she done something to him to cause the constant, half-buried panic? Had she somehow clipped a virus tag on him that would weaken him with these feelings until he deactivated? It had to have been her fault.

Delete never told anyone about his worrisome feelings for fear he would be sent to repair. Perhaps he would even be reset, if his complaints were stout enough. Surely having strange feelings around an Earth kid was cause for concern. What confused Delete most of all was that Earth kids in general didn't affect him in such a way. The other ones made little zips of energy snap between his antennae; he had long ago come to associate them with the need for stealth and underhanded schemes waiting to be employed. But none of the others ever made him feel _warm._

Delete had hesitated to ask Buzz about the matter, but worry over his own health drove him to relenting. He mulled over it in his slow way, considering that maybe he should mention it in an offhanded manner. Buzz had a sharp temper and Delete could never be sure when he was apt to waddle away and report to the Boss whatever Delete had said.

"Hey, Buzzy?" Delete said. He kept his hands knotted behind his back. Buzz chomped on a doughnut, spraying crumbs and scattering sprinkles. Delete swallowed.

"Buzzy . . . what makes a person feel all warm and tingly in their insides?"

Buzz leaned back and deposited the last half of the doughnut into his mouth. After gulping it down without chewing, he said, "I dunno. What, you got a problem or something?"

"It's not _me,_ " Delete said. "I just—was wondering, that's all. You ever heard of anything like that, though? A weird feeling, like you're dizzy, but it's in your tummy instead of your head?"

Buzz fumbled in the box for another doughnut. "Geez," he said, pushing two into his mouth at once and talking through the gobs of custard. "That sounds awful. You don't think it's contagious, do ya?" He contemplated. "Y'know, DeeDee . . . that actually sounds like something that Wicked lady said one time. About the Boss. Remember?"

"Yeah, but—" Delete froze. "But she's . . . she wants to marry the Boss, doesn't she?"

Buzz shrugged and grunted through his doughnuts. "If that's what you call it."

Delete watched Buzz meander away with the box in tow. He sank against the wall and pressed his hand against his front. The metal was cool against his silicone palm. It should always be that way; that was normal. Except when he saw that Earth kid.

If what Buzz said really was true—that he shared those tingly, warm, dizzy sparks with someone who was, for whatever reason, in _love—_

Delete sighed and scrunched his eyes shut. Too much thinking and trying to tie together convoluted logic was too complicated. But all he knew was that, if Buzz was right, that meant Delete was breaking every rule of his existence.

He was on the Hacker's side, working daily against everything that was good in Cyberspace. He was a robot, built to follow the demands and orders the Hacker gave. He should have felt comfortable breaking rules.

But the rule of never being fond of an enemy was the one rule that was never meant to be broken.


End file.
